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They are the people formerly known as employees. In a broad range of service industries, workers who once drew a steady salary are cutting out the employer and plying their services direct to people who used to pay companies, rather than people, to meet their needs. 他们以前被称为雇员。在服务行业的各个领域，曾经赚取稳定工资的劳动者正在绕过雇主，把自己的服务直接提供给客户。这些客户过去一直付费给企业（而非个人）来满足自己的需求。 This is the on-demand economy, the pattern of work exemplified by online systems such as Uber, a smartphone app that matches freelance taxi drivers to city dwellers who need a ride. Such services promise great efficiencies; idle resources can be harnessed more easily, whether they are empty bedrooms or the working hours of the underemployed. But there is also a transfer of risk. 这就是按需经济(on-demand economy)，这种工作模式体现在优步(Uber)等在线系统上。优步是一款智能手机应用，它可以把个体出租车司机和需要出行的城市居民匹配起来。这样的服务有望带来效率的极大提高；闲置资源可以被更容易地利用起来，无论这资源是空置的卧室还是未得到充分就业的人们的工作时间。但是，这里也存在风险的转移。 In the short term, at least, company men and women were insulated from the vicissitudes of economic fortune. Whether it was faulty equipment or business ups and downs, much of the risk fell on companies rather than individuals. The on-demand economy sweeps away many of these safeguards. When misfortune strikes, workers are on their own. | 
